Tell-all won't be toned down

Our chance to read "a tell-all about New Zealand's media and celebrity industry" has been thwarted by a disagreement between the author and her publisher. Journalist Wendyl Nissen is well-known as a former editor in the trans-Tasman women's magazine business and her autobiographical Bitch and Famous was due for NZ-Australian release next month.

However, Shona Martyn, the publishing director of HarperCollins Australia and New Zealand, flew to Auckland last week for last-minute discussions about making "six to eight" changes to potentially defamatory material.

"We had some concerns about the content and wanted to do another round of legalling," she says. "But the author decided she liked the content as it was and wanted the rights to revert to her. I'm disappointed because I would have preferred that she'd listened to what we had to say and then made up her mind."

HarperCollins will take back a $NZ8000 ($6870) advance and pulp 8000 books. After living in Sydney for more than 20 years, Kiwi-born Martyn was amused at Nissen's description of her as a "bossy Australian".